Chapter 86: A female mate chooses to farm (35)

 Xu Yin had no intention of selling the first batch of candies, so she had people pack them into small portions and distribute them later as New Year welfare.

 Seeing the rough oil paper used for packaging, Xu Yin couldn't help but think of sugarcane bagasse.

 The bagasse after pith removal is a very good raw material for papermaking. It is easy to cook and bleach. It can be used to make cultural paper and household paper.

Once Yan Kejin heard that bagasse had this function, what were she waiting for? Immediately send people to build a paper workshop.

 In this way, what is most lacking is not raw materials or various auxiliary materials, but short-term workers.

The population of the Southern Barbarians is not as large as that of the Central Plains. Most of them are mountain farmers. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, they stay in the mountains and eat as much as they can grow.

Those who think of coming to the city to work part-time are usually more flexible-minded, or they are really unable to survive and need to find another breakthrough.

With the rise of various types of workshops, the wages of day laborers have continued to rise. After hearing about it, many people from remote villages rushed to Fucheng to find a way out.

Xu Yin seemed to see in them the migrant workers who went south to Shenzhen in the 1980s and 1990s.

Once the population moves, many businesses will emerge.

 In places where there are many part-time workers, food stalls selling various types of food, house rentals, and travel and transportation are all following the trend.

Having witnessed the prosperity of Fucheng and the advent of high-yielding grain varieties, the day laborers brought various propaganda with them when they returned to their hometowns for the New Year.

Xu Yin believes that after the New Year, Fucheng will be even more lively.

On the one hand, people will come to inquire about the news of high-yielding grain seeds. If they find out that it is true, they will naturally find ways to bring them back to their hometown to grow them. Haven’t the high-yielding grain seeds spread since then?

On the other hand, more people will come to the city to find work.

Workshops and mines all require manpower. To put it bluntly, labor force plays a decisive factor in the contribution of production value.

Xu Yin stepped on the tail of the twelfth lunar month and opened a labor market at the south gate of Fucheng.

The market is a wooden work shed with various types of job recruitment information posted on the four wooden walls. A literate boy was assigned to stay there and interpret the recruitment information for the illiterate villagers.

 The workshops under the Royal Palace will need to hire a lot of people in the coming year. She asked the directors of each workshop to list the requirements for the positions that needed to be added, copied them and posted them in the labor market.

 Those who meet the requirements can go to the workshop for an interview. If you pass the interview, you can work in the Wangfu Workshop after the Chinese New Year, and you can receive monthly salary and enjoy benefits without signing a contract of sale.

 Such treatment was unheard of before.

　　After hearing about it, the people in Dongxian came here to look for work with a dubious attitude.

 “Oh, Daniel! Are you here too?”

"I came here last month. I found a mixing job in a sugar factory and have been paid for a month. This time I came with my cousin."

"Is this true? When the palace recruits people, there is really no need to sign a death contract?"

“No need! Just sign a living contract in case you don’t work hard after receiving the monthly salary.”

 “Oops! Then I’ll sign up too!”

 “I’ll sign up too!”

 Many people have gone to the Wangfu’s workshops to sign up.

 The person who applied for the job was so happy that he felt like he was lucky!

 Everyone was happy and running around to tell each other.

 The reputation of the labor market in the south of the city has also become more and more famous.

During the Chinese New Year festival, everyone who comes to Fucheng, whether they are visiting relatives and friends or desperate people who come to try their luck, can't help but go here.

 The labor shortage in workshops has been alleviated.

Xu Yin believes that after construction starts next year, all businesses will be on track. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and she has recently been busy going to the silkworm house and carpentry workshop to give out red envelopes to the masters.

 This year, only these two workshops have been in operation since they were built, and because they have only been open for less than half a year, the masters must be under a lot of pressure.

In order to appease them, the housekeeper specially asked the housekeeper to prepare a batch of red envelopes with silver rewards, which was not only a New Year welfare but also a reward for working together to complete the giant juicer. Each person was given twenty taels of silver rewards.

After receiving this heavy reward, the eyes of the master carpenters who followed Carpenter Cen and left their hometowns to work in Baigui County were red-eyed.

If Xu Yin hadn't been able to dodge quickly, they would have knelt down in front of her in excitement.

“Old Cen, you are not kind. You didn’t tell me that there was such a good thing before you came here! Now I can afford to treat my father’s illness! Wuwuwu…”

“With this reward, not to mention that my family’s debts to the clan can be paid off, and I can also save some money to send my son to a private school.”

Every family has its own difficulties, otherwise we wouldn’t be so poor that we can’t take the blame even in good times.

Carpenter Cen smiled and stroked his beard and said, "I didn't lie to you, did I? I just said that the owner I work with is very kind. As long as you do a good job, you will be rewarded with a lot of money."

 “When did you say there was a silver reward?”

“…Uh, didn’t I say that? Maybe I forgot.”

 No, he didn’t say it on purpose.

 At first, they were worried that if they spoke too early, their happiness would be in vain if they were not rewarded with silver. Now, wouldn't it be nice to have such a surprise during the Chinese New Year?

 The carpenters: “…”

 The honest old Cen has changed!

In any case, Carpenter Cen and his entourage thanked the host’s house with gratitude, and embarked on their journey home for the New Year with smiles on their faces.

The journey was dusty and the trepidation when crossing the strange mountains could not stop them from coming to Baigui County to work for the prince in the coming spring.

In addition to craftsmen, other workers in workshops and mines also received a red envelope.

 It’s just that the amount is not as high as that of a craftsman: those who perform well can get two taels; those who perform averagely can get five or six hundred taels, which is equivalent to receiving an extra month’s wages.

Ordinary workers are equally happy to have a holiday during the Chinese New Year and receive an extra month’s wages, with smiles on their faces.

The palace was cleaned and dusted inside and outside, festive red lanterns were hung, and all kinds of new year goods were well prepared.

Xu Yin and her maids, after drinking the thick Laba porridge, grinded the bean juice and made a batch of tofu.

  Gypsum is a kind of tofu, she had never thought of it before she discovered the gypsum mine.

Of course, if you like to eat old tofu, you can also order brine.

 Simply refined gypsum, the tender tofu is as white as jade and has a very tender texture. Whether served cold or boiled, tender tofu is also included.

After making the tofu, there was still a lot of soy milk. She mixed salty and sweet flavors, sent a portion to the study, and tasted it herself.

 mellow bean flavor, paired with pure white sugar, this is sweet soy milk.

Add a spoonful of soy sauce and a spoonful of vinegar, and add some chopped green onion and coriander. There are seaweed and shrimp skin from Qinbei in the house, and a little of each to enhance the flavor. Sprinkle the boiling hot soy milk into the bowl. When the soy milk meets the vinegar, It seemed like flowers were blooming. This is the salty soy milk popular in Haicheng in later generations.

Xu Yin likes this taste, but she doesn’t know what kind of taste the prince will like.

But based on her understanding of him, he probably likes salty soy milk.

As expected, after burning the incense, the boy who was waiting in the study came running back and said that the prince likes the salty bean juice very much and asked if there would be any in the morning?

 Of course you can eat it if you want to, but if you don’t have it, you can make it again.

Making tofu is not easy, grinding soybean juice and making soy milk is not easy?

 (End of this chapter)